


Acceptance

by Call_Me_Bob



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, As a warning I do what I want with canon in general, Canon with a twist, Gen, I would tag Sasuke and Kakashi but they're hardly there and don't talk, Land of Waves Mission mentioned, M/M, Pre-Relationship, They have cute little crushes on each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25773355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Call_Me_Bob/pseuds/Call_Me_Bob
Summary: They were traveling back home after their disastrous-but-thankfully-successful mission and things were pretty quiet. Well, tense was a better word.Or, Naruto and Shikamaru have a chat about their recent mission to clear the air.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 12
Kudos: 99
Collections: ShikaNaru Weekend 2020





	Acceptance

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the ShikaNara2020 event! I picked the "Canon with a twist" option. Haven't posted anything anywhere in so freaking long that I'm nervous about this! Hopefully it's at least not trash! The title sucks, though, but, like, I stupidly forgot that titles were a thing you needed to have... Yeah... Might change the title at some point, but whatever.

They were traveling back home after their disastrous-but-thankfully-successful mission and things were pretty quiet. Well, tense was a better word.

Naruto and Sasuke hadn’t said a word about the whole thing, but Kakashi had laid a hand on Shikamaru’s shoulder in consolation yet remained silent. Shikamaru wasn’t certain if Kakashi did so because he was waiting for the others’ reactions or what. He would like to think it was because Kakashi was the kind to wait instead of jump to assumptions. Which is what Shikamaru was trying to do, but the silence was stretching on for quite a while and that was incredibly unnerving for his teammates to do, especially when they were in each other’s vicinity.

By the time they set camp that night, he was beginning to think they were either broken or had come to an unfavorable opinion of him. (That thought hurt a lot more than he was willing to admit especially because Naruto was involved. He never turned anyone away, always willing to befriend whoever whenever. It may have also hurt for another reason, too, but Shikamaru was still ignoring that for the time being. He just wasn’t as good at emotions as Ino was.)

Kakashi designated who took what watch as night fell. Shikamaru had first shift and he sat there, spreading out his senses. It was quiet except for the animals in the forest, which was always a good sign.

After two hours, he heard rustling and looked to find Naruto crawling out of his tent, his turn to keep watch. He made to get up, just wanting to crawl into his sack and go to sleep, but Naruto stopped him.

“What?” Shikamaru asked, sounding resigned even to his own ears.

Frowning, Naruto furrowed his brows seemingly in confusion. “I wanted to ask how you were doing. You ok?”

Now it was Shikamaru’s turn to frown as he stared at Naruto. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“We’re teammates. Am I not allowed to be concerned?” Naruto sounded baffled and a bit like he was offended.

“You didn’t seem to be concerned earlier,” Shikamaru snipped, not understanding where Naruto had the right to feel insulted for how he and his brother were behaving.

After a second of staring at Shikamaru in thought, realization dawned on his face. “Oh! No, look, I’m sorry! That wasn’t what- I mean- That is…” Naruto frowned, fumbling over his words and unable to get a proper sentence out.

“Start from the beginning.”

“Right. We weren’t ignoring you, Shikamaru. We’re not upset or anything, we were just surprised, you know? And we had to process that and then after that we were just trying to let you have your space. You seemed like you didn’t want to be bothered, so I suggested we just leave you alone for a while. Shikamaru, we’re not going to reject you or anything. That would be pretty stupid since, you know, we’re teammates and you saved our lives and everything, right? Honest, I…thought we were being considerate. I guess I didn’t even think about how it might have come off to you. I’m sorry.” Naruto stared at him pleadingly, looking sheepish for not reaching out sooner. After a second, he blinked in surprise, concern flooding his features rapidly. “You ok? You’re crying.”

Sure enough, when Shikamaru reached up he found a few tears that he quickly scrubbed away. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Embarrassed, but fine. Actually, better than fine if he was being honest. The fact that his teammates, especially Naruto, didn’t hate him had Shikamaru feeling so relieved he nearly got lightheaded.

“I really am sorry, Shikamaru. But, like, did you really think we would care? It was just a surprise, that’s all. Besides, it was super cool, right? I had no idea you could do that and it was amazing! Those guys had no idea what hit them! And I get to live knowing I’ve got an awesome, strong teammate!” Naruto gushed, smiling brightly, excitedly rambling until he finally saw a smile start to crawl onto Shikamaru’s face. When he noticed that, he was satisfied that Shikamaru understood and the damage had been fixed.

“Yeah, yeah. Just…don’t tell anyone, ok? It’s a village secret and all that. I mean, my dad had to get permission from the Hokage in order to be able to tell me about it.”

“Of course! You can count on me!” Naruto promised.

For a brief second, Shikamaru allowed himself to bask in that bright smile, but just as he was about to wave a goodnight salute to Naruto, he was yanked into a hug, just barely suppressing a shout at the sudden movement. Shaking his head, he hugged him back. (He resolutely ignored the fluttering in his stomach.)

“What’s this for?” He was not going to acknowledge the sound of his voice and how shaky it came out to his own ears if Naruto wasn’t.

“I am glad you’re my teammate, Shikamaru, and I’m really glad you’re alright.” Naruto grew tense, hugging tighter as though afraid Shikamaru would disappear if he didn’t. Shikamaru dreaded the possibility that Naruto was going to start crying because he wasn’t sure what to do when people cried, not when they weren’t Ino or Chouji. (And even then, too.)

“Yeah, me too,” he said, pulling back a bit, relieved to see Naruto not crying, though he could see that a blush had formed instead. “And you two are fine, too, right?”

“Yup! I mean, Sasuke’s still hurting, but it’s actually not as bad as it looked, you know? And I was mostly just tired.”

“Good. Well, goodnight,” Shikamaru responded, giving a halfhearted wave as Naruto went to take his seat for his shift.

Crawling into his sack, Shikamaru got settled, feeling much lighter now that he knew his teammates didn’t hate him. Honestly, the possibility of them not accepting him had never even crossed his mind before their tense walk that day. But he hadn’t said anything because, as he explained to Naruto, it was a secret and not something he could just tell people.

As he fell asleep, he entered the realm within his mind, walking the maze-like halls until he stood before the gates.

The large red eyes gleamed at him from behind the bars, sharp teeth bared in the semblance of an intimidating smile. He always threatened to kill Shikamaru’s loved ones; his parents, Ino, Chouji, and now he included Naruto. He taunted Shikamaru, sneering at the emotions he could feel bubbling up, the ones that had been growing for a while now despite Shikamaru ignoring them. (He was going to have to start not ignoring them at some point, though, and they were both keenly aware of that.)

Shikamaru just sighed and sat down in front of the gate, materializing a board in front of him.

“Do you want to play or not because you’re not doing any of that while you’re still stuck in my seal.”

He ignored the cursing as he made his move, waiting for the Kyuubi to eventually grumble himself into a relatively subdued state so he could join the game, telling Shikamaru where to move his pieces.


End file.
